From August 2018 we have introduced some changes to responsibilities of staff members of the Flying Start Children’s Centre. Following a review of the pilot project, which ran between January 2017 and July 2018, we have introduced some new roles and responsibilities which will be tested between August 2018 and December 2019.

The original pilot was introduced to support a national driver to integrate the Healthy Child Programme (HCP) 2-2.5 year review (carried out by Health Visitors) and the Early Years Foundation (EYFS) progress check (carried out by early years settings).

We created four new fixed term posts for ‘Two Year Old Family Workers’ (TYFW’s), one in each Children’s Centre Neighbourhood. (North, West, Central, South) The TYFW job role also included line managing the Support Worker Team in each neighbourhood and overseeing the delivery of groups and services, as well as delivering parenting programmes and supporting families with children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to access a suitable early years place.

Between January 2017 and April 2018 the TYFW’s supported 488 integrated checks and offered support to children identified with a developmental concern.

As part of the review of the pilot of the Two year old Family Worker project in Spring 2018, views were sought from the Two year old Family Workers, Health visiting team leaders and the FSCC managers. Although the value of the pilot project was recognised it was concluded that the model should be changed from the end of the pilot period with alterations being made to the responsibilities of FSCC staff.

Taking the feedback received into account we concluded that the line management of the CC Support Workers and the oversight of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) needed a greater focus and that combining this responsibility with being the lead for integrated two year old reviews and supporting children with SEND to access a funded place made the job too big for one person.

Therefore from August 2018 we have split the roles carried out by the TYFWs during the pilot. We have created a new role of Early Years Support Officer (EYSO) to manage the support workers and ensure the delivery and quality monitoring of all stay and play sessions. In addition we have created two new “champion” roles in each neighbourhood for our Family Workers one with a focus on two year olds and the other with a focus on children with SEND. This will ensure that these elements of the original pilot are not lost.

The new EYSO posts will be a pilot for 17 months from August 2018-December 2019 and give us the opportunity to see if this new model is effective. There are 4 full time EYSO posts across the four neighbourhoods.

A ‘Two year old Champion’ Family Worker in each neighbourhood will focus on promoting and encouraging families to take up a 2 year funded place (as well as other case work and parenting delivery). The 2 year old champion will continue to offer health colleagues a single point of contact and to follow-up of any children where ASQ scores are below the expected levels.

The SEND work will be carried out by a ‘SEND Champion’ Family Worker in each neighbourhood.

Details of the new EYSOs and Family Worker champions can be found below.

FS North

FS West

FS South

FS Central

Early Years Support Officer

Tammy Calvert (50%)

Tammy Calvert (50%)

Angela Gamble

Lucy Britton

Louise Bodsworth

SEND Champion

Lisa Page

Jon Washington

Christine Dennis

Claire Spokes

2 year old Champion

Jon Washington

Jon Washington

Kirsty Groom

Lisa Bevans

If you have any questions about this new model, please contact Caroline Swindells, Flying Start Children’s Centre Development and Integration Manager on 01582 547988 or by email.

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Strategic Partners

Flying Start is a partnership between the Luton Borough Council together with the Early Years Alliance and its partners, communities and parents, whom together are committed to delivering the Flying Start vision and strategy.